this post was submitted on 05 Jun 2023
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[–] balerion@beehaw.org 38 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

Hey, tankies, decent countries don't have to violently suppress their populations and then lie about it. Oh, and socialism is worker ownership of the means of production, not whatever the fuck they're doing in China.

(inb4 people assuming I must support the US since I hate China)

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[–] Senokir@lemmy.ml 36 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Don't ever let anyone forget or brush under the rug the horrible acts that occurred in Tiananmen Square on June 4th, 1989.

https://www.history.com/topics/asian-history/tiananmen-square

[–] gzrrt@feddit.de 21 points 2 years ago (3 children)

Meanwhile in Taiwan, the island's equivalent of the Tiananmen massacre from the KMT dictatorship (the 228 incident) has its own memorial park and museum.

No need for a self-inflicted legitimacy crisis when you respect your citizens' basic rights.

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[–] elouboub@kbin.social 18 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I'm not sure I understand China's reactions here... if nothing happened, then why not just let them congregate and "remember" something that supposedly didn't happen? What's the harm? If they were blocking traffic or riots were involved, it would understandable to want to stop it, but if it's peaceful, where's the harm? Unless of course, something did happen that they want people to forget...

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[–] nahoskins@lemmy.ml 13 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Wow. There's a lot of CCP folks working the federated space.

[–] FaceDeer@lemmy.ml 13 points 2 years ago (2 children)

One of the big instances, Lemmygrad, is basically dedicated to that crowd. If the influx of Reddit refugees doesn't counterbalance them then at some point I'll probably move to an instance that doesn't federate with them.

[–] gzrrt@feddit.de 5 points 2 years ago (2 children)

I've already done the same, can recommend it

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[–] Solaris1789@lemmy.ml 10 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Wow a post on lemmy denouncing the CCPs actions instead of denying them or even trying to justify them? Thats rare

[–] Senokir@lemmy.ml 17 points 2 years ago (14 children)

I plan on actively posting to counter the constant barrage of tankie propaganda that is very clearly an issue here. Misinformation is a very real issue that we face in our society and unless we actually do something about it, it will only continue to get worse.

[–] Tretiak@lemmy.ml 13 points 2 years ago

Don’t get ahead of yourself. Most people ‘vastly’ overestimate their ability to spot propaganda.

[–] krolden@lemmy.ml 7 points 2 years ago (6 children)

Why not post about the atrocities committed by the USA and their allies on their anniversaries then?

Might get exhausting posting every day.

[–] soulless@lemmy.ml 18 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Having been a life long socialist myself, it's a bit mystifying to me how anyone can believe that the atrocities commited by the US somehow makes the PRC or Russia in any way deserving of praise.

For sure I'd like more people to call out the American genocide of its natives, or honor the heroes that fought for their emancipation during the time of chattel slavery.

But I'll be damned if any of those atrocities will make me defend the human suffering caused by the Chinese or Russian regimes. To me, being a socialist means standing up for the little guy, judging a society by how we care for those who have the least. The only us vs them struggle there is, is the one between the working and the ruling class - not the one between east and west. Idolising Zedong only puts another Emperor on a pedestal. I say fuck them all, western or eastern rulers and billionaires, they're the real enemies of a social and equal world.

[–] gnuhaut@lemmy.ml 5 points 2 years ago (1 children)

There's a propaganda push in the west to demonize China, with the obvious goal of creating consent for a potential war. Even the Trotskyists of wsws.org (which have no favorable view of China) usually defend China from fake or misleading shit. Repeating US propaganda uncritically, or even criticizing China for good reason without proper context, is helping the US propaganda machine bring us to the brink of annihilation.

It's important to be truthful and fair, and not encourage sinophobia and war propaganda, so be careful when criticizing China.

[–] soulless@lemmy.ml 7 points 2 years ago (15 children)

Whether it's China or really anything, I'd agree to being critical of any claims made without proper context, yet the context here is the massacre and subsequent cover-up perpetrated by the Chinese government following peaceful protests on the Tiananmen square.

Meeting that with whataboutisms and vague excuses is disrespectful towards the victims full stop.

Being a socialist should be easy, because truth is on our side. It should be easy to point to Tiananmen square and say "this is what happens when the ruling class feels threatened", just like you can say the same thing when the US government busts their unions or murders their black citizens. Being an unquestioning supporter of either of these regimes is not what socialism is to me, and it never was. I just don't understand how anyone can reconcile these opposing views in their heads.

[–] gnuhaut@lemmy.ml 6 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

Imagine there's this guy at your work, who every day brings up some crime or another, but somehow the perpetrator is always black. So you tell him "Can you talk about something else?", to which they get defensive and say "Why don't you want to talk about this? Can't we all agree that this is bad?". If you let this situation go on for too long, you'll soon find your workplace taken over by open racism, and everybody who's uncomfortable with this is going to quit, reinforcing this trend.

This is what's happening on almost all western social media, and society in general, regarding China. Open sinophobia, hate speech, and calls for violence.

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[–] gnuhaut@lemmy.ml 5 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Also, maybe read this thread on Twitter and also follow the sources there, as you seem to be under the false impression that the protests were entirely peaceful.

[–] soulless@lemmy.ml 5 points 2 years ago

Threads on Twitter are usually not a very compelling source, I am not against changing my opinion if the evidence is compelling, but that was not it.

See for example how the question is answered over on r/askhistorians:

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/140daad/how_many_people_died_during_the_tiananmen_square/jmw0ns0/

Well sourced with actual recent publications and honest as to what the uncertainties are.

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